8. Questions for discussion:

1) Without what parts computer is unable to work?

2) What is the most expensive part of the hardware?

3) What other hardware devices do you know? What are they for? How to use them?

Software

A computer to complete a job requires more than just the actual equipment or hardware we see and touch. It requires Software — programs for directing the operation of a computer or electronic data.

Software is the final computer system component. These computer programs instruct the hardware how to conduct processing. The computer is merely a general-purpose machine which requires specific software to perform a given task. Computers can input, calculate, compare, and output data as information. Software determines the order in which these operations are performed.

Programs usually fall in one of two categories: system software and applications software.

System software controls standard internal computer activities. An operating system, for example, is a collection of system programs that aid in the operation of a computer regardless of the application software being used. When a computer is first turned on, one of the system programmes is booted or loaded into the computers memory. This software contains information about memory capacity, the model of the processor, the disk drives to be used, and more. Once the system software is loaded, the applications software can be brought in.

System programmes are designed for the specific pieces of hardware. These programmes are called drivers and coordinate peripheral hardware and computer activities. User needs to install a specific driver in order to activate a peripheral device. For example, if you intend to buy a printer or a scanner you need to worry in advance about the driver programme which, though, commonly goes along with your device. By installing the driver you «teach» your mainboard to «understand» the newly attached part. However, in modern computer systems the drivers are usually installed in the operating system.

Applications software satisfies your specific need. The developers of application software rely mostly on marketing research strategies trying to do their best to attract more users (buyers) to their software. As the productivity of the hardware has increased greatly in recent years, the programmers nowadays tend to include as much as possible in one programme to make software interface look more attractive to the user. These class of programmes is the most numerous and perspective from the marketing point of view.

Data communication within and between computers systems is handled by system software. Communications software transfers data from one computer system to another. These programmes usually provide users with data security and error checking along with physically transferring data between the two computer's memories. During the past five years the developing electronic network communication has stimulated more and more companies to produce various communication softwaresuch as Web-Browsers for Internet.